Assessing And Treating Clients With With Bipolar Disorder

The client is a 26-year-old woman of Korean descent who presents to her first appointment following a 21-day hospitalization for onset of acute mania. She was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder.

Upon arrival in your office, she is quite “busy,” playing with things on your desk and shifting from side to side in her chair. She informs you that “they said I was bipolar, I don’t believe that, do you? I just like to talk, and dance, and sing. Did I tell you that I liked to cook?”

She weights 110 lbs. and is 5’ 5”

SUBJECTIVE

Patient reports “fantastic” mood. Reports that she sleeps about 5 hours/night to which she adds “I hate sleep, it’s no fun.”

You reviewed her hospital records and find that she has been medically worked up by a physician who reported her to be in overall good health. Lab studies were all within normal limits. You find that the patient had genetic testing in the hospital (specifically GeneSight testing) as none of the medications that they were treating her with seemed to work.

Genetic testing reveals that she is positive for CYP2D6*10 allele.

Patient confesses that she stopped taking her lithium (which was prescribed in the hospital) since she was discharged two weeks ago.

MENTAL STATUS EXAM

The patient is alert, oriented to person, place, time, and event. She is dressed quite oddly- wearing what appears to be an evening gown to her appointment. Speech is rapid, pressured, tangential. Self-reported mood is euthymic. Affect broad. Patient denies visual or auditory hallucinations, no overt delusional or paranoid thought processes readily apparent. Judgment is grossly intact, but insight is clearly impaired. She is currently denying suicidal or homicidal ideation.

The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) score is 22

RESOURCES

§ Chen, R., Wang, H., Shi, J., Shen, K., & Hu, P. (2015). Cytochrome P450 2D6 genotype affects the pharmacokinetics of controlled-release paroxetine in healthy Chinese subjects: comparison of traditional phenotype and activity score systems. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 71(7), 835-841. doi:10.1007/s00228-015-1855-6

Decision Point One

Select what the PMHNP should do:

Begin Lithium 300 mg orally BIDBegin Risperdal 1 mg orally BIDBegin Seroquel XR 100 mg orally at HS

Decision Point One

Begin Lithium 300 mg orally BID

RESULTS OF DECISION POINT ONE

• Client returns to clinic in four weeks
• Client informs the PMHNP that she has been taking her drug “off and on” only when she “feels like she needs it”
• Today’s presentation is similar to the first day you met her

Decision Point Two

Select what the PMHNP should do next:

Increase Lithium to 450 mg orally BID

RESULTS OF DECISION POINT TWO

• Client returns to clinic in four weeks
• Client returns reports that she is still taking the medication when she feels that she needs it
• She remains quite manic and reports that her family is getting really upset because she likes to play her new guitar at night